Ments



SYLVESTER STITTS, OF IRONTON, OHIO, 'ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, OF ONE-HALF TO ROBERT N. FEARON, OF SAME PLACE.

CAR-BRAKE.

m SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 617,199, dated January 3, 1899.

Application filed March 2 9, 1 8 9 8.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SYLVESTER STITTs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ironton, in the county of Lawrence and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Oar- Brake, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to car-brakes in which the power necessary to set the brakes is obtained by utilizing the momentum of the moving car, the object of the invention being to provide means whereby the brakeman is relieved of the hard work necessary to set the brakes by hand.

\Vith this object in view my invention consists in improved connecting mechanism between the car-axle and the drum upon which the brake-chain is wound whereby the rotation of the axle is communicated to the drum, said mechanism being brought into operation by manipulating the ordinary brake wheel or lever, the improved construction, arrangement,and combination of the parts being hereinafter fully described,and afterward specifically pointed out in the appended claim.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention most nearly appertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a bottom plan View of the mechanism below the floor of the car. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional View on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow, showing also the floor; Fig. 3 is a detail sectional View on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow.

Like numerals of reference mark the same parts wherever they occur in the different figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings by numerals, 10 indicates one of the axles of the car, and 11 and 12 the wheels secured thereon, the axle being mounted in ordinary bearings 13 and provided with a cog-wheel 14, which meshes with a cog-wheel15 on a shaft 16. This shaft 16 is mounted at one end in a box 17, rigidly fixed but sufliciently large to allow a small amount of lateral movement to the shaft.

Serial No. 675,620. (No model.)

At the opposite end the shaft 16 is mounted in a sliding box 18, secured to the floor or frame of the car by means of bolts 19 passing through slots 20.

Upon the end of the shaft 16 opposite to that upon which the gear-wheel15 is mounted is fixed a friction-wheel 21, which may be, when desired, brought into engagement with a friction-wheel 22, mounted on a shaft or drum 23, journaled in fixed bearings 24;.

A rod 25 is connected to the sliding bearing 18 by means of a bolt 26 and, extending inwardly under the car, is pivot-ally secured at 27 to a lever 28, pivoted at 29 to the body of the car, and pivotally connected at its opposite end by a pin 30 to another lever 31, pivoted at 32 to the bottom of the car, the lever 31 being pivotally connected at its end 33 to a rod, chain, or cable 34, as the case may be, which is connected with the ordinary hand brake-setting mechanism, such as the usual upright shaft and hand-wheel orthe lever sometimes used, such mechanism being extremely common and well known and not illustrated in this instance.

35 indicates a chain secured to the shaft or drum 23 and connected at its opposite end to a rod 36, which is pivotally connected at 37 to one end of the'lever 38, pivoted at 39 to a fixed part of the car, and at 40 pivotally connected to a rod 41, which at its opposite end, as at 42, is pivotally connected to a lever 43, which in its turn is pivoted, as at 14, to a fixed part of the car, and carries at its opposite end a brake-shoe 4:5, in position to be brought into contact with the periphery of the wheel 11 when desired.

The dotted lines 46, 47, 4S, and 49, Fig. 2, indicate how a brake may be mounted to be applied to the wheel 12.

The construction of my invention will be readily understood from the foregoing de scription, and its operation may be described as follows: The train being in motion and it being desired to set the brake and stop the car, the power is applied by hand to whatever mechanism the train is supplied with, such as the hand-wheel or lever before mentioned, which will draw the rod 34 in the direction of the arrow. By means of its con nection at 33 the lever 31 will have its outer end drawn in the same direction as the rod 34, which will throw its opposite end in the opposite direction, carrying with it that end of the lever 28 and drawing the rod in the direction of the arrow. The rod 25 being secured to the sliding box 18, in which the shaft 16 is journaled, will carry the box with it and bring the friction-wheel 21 into contact with the friction-wheel 22. The train being, as before stated, in motion the rotation of the gear-wheel14 will be communicated to the shaft 16 by means of the gearwheel 15, the friction-wheel 21 rotating with the shaft 16. When by the operation first described the friction-wheel is brought into contact with the wheel 22, the latter will partake of the motion of the former, the shaft 23 being thereby turned, causing the chain to be wound upon it, which through the medium of the rod 36, lever 38, rod 41, and lever 43 will cause the brake-shoe to be tightly set against the periphery of the wheel 11, thus stopping the car. At the point 30, where the levers 31 and 28 are pivotally connected together, a rod is connected, which leads to the hand-wheel or lever at the opposite end of the car.

From the foregoing description it will be obvious that I have provided means whereby the momentum of a moving car is utilized to furnish the power necessary to set the brakeof the car, the usual hand mechanism only requiring to be operated with suiilcient power to bring the power-setting mechanism into operating connection. With such means the greater the momentum of the car the more tightly the brake can be set and the greater the speed of the car the more quickly the brake will be set.

While I have illustrated and described details of construction shown and described,

but hold that such slight changes or variations as might suggest themselves to the ordinary mechanic would properly fall within the limit and scope of my invention.

- Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

The combination with the axle having the usual wheels, of a shaft 16 journaled loosely at one end and in a sliding bearing 18 at the other, and geared to the axle at one end and carrying a friction-wheel at the other, a third shaft 23 (or a drum) journaled in fixed bearings and carrying a friction-wheel adapted to engage the first-mentioned shaft, a chain 35 secured to the drum-shaft, a rod 36 connected to and forming a continuation of the chain, a lever 38 pivoted to the car intermediate of its ends and connected at one end to rod 36, a rod 41 pivotally connected at one of its ends to the opposite end of lever 38, a lever 43 pivoted to the car at one end 44, carrying a brake-shoe 45 at the other end and pivotally connected at 42, intermediate of its ends with the other end of rod 41, a rod 34 leading from the hand-brake-applyin g mechanism, a lever 31, pivoted to the car at 32 and pivotally connected at 33 with rod 34, a lever 28 pivoted at 29 to the car, and pivotally connected at 30 to lever 31, and a rod connecting the lever 28 with the sliding bearing 18, substantially as described.

SYLVESTER STITTSQ Witnesses:

J. S. MURRAY, W. E. SooTT. 

